so well as you
by a-better-world
Summary: Modern P&P fluff. Lizzy makes an important life decision and wants Darcy to be there for her. One shot.


**A/N: Hey, remember me? Remember how I said I was going to write another Lizzy/Darcy one shot soon, and that was two years ago? I'm nothing if not punctual.**

**This is theoretically a continuation of _Their Love is a Masterpiece_, but can also be read on its own.**

**P.S. Title from Shakespeare's _Much Ado About Nothing_: "I do love nothing in the world so well as you."**

* * *

When Lizzy tells her parents that she found a job at a local Waterstones, Mrs Bennet's wailing screams echo around the house for the next two hours.

"I don't understand why she has to take it this ways," Elizabeth flops onto the sofa next to Mary, who is reading Jung's book on personalities.

"But, mother, it is _her_ future we are talking about, so she should be the one to decide…" they hear Jane's soft voice, trying to calm their mother, in response to which she only gets more exasperated exclamations, along the lines of Lizzy being an ungrateful daughter.

Lizzy sighs in discontent.

"Mother is an introverted sensor," Mary responds, "which means that social hierarchy and rules imposed on us by our community are of paramount importance to her."

"What does that mean in practice, Mary?" Lizzy rolls her eyes.

"She believes people are judged by their social status and doesn't want you to be inferior to others."

Elizabeth can't disagree with that, unfortunately.

"If that is her future, she will not live under my roof! For she certainly has done nothing to deserve my care," Mrs Bennet says.

"You're forgetting, my dear, that this is my house as much as it is yours, and for as long as I'm alive, Lizzy will have a home here," Mr Bennet retorts, and Elizabeth can't help but smile softly at that.

"Oh, how can you be so cruel to my feelings, John! A law graduate! Working in a bookshop! Oh, the shame! What will people think!" she and Mary hear, right from the entrance to the library.

"Probably that you are a terrible mother for having failed to raise a lawyer out of Lizzy," says Mr Bennet on entering the library with a leather-bound book in his hand. It is evident from his voice that he is joking, but their mother, naturally, takes it at face value.

Mrs Bennet lets out another devastated wail and stomps away, irate, with Jane on her heels, attempting to calm her.

"You're not helping, dad," Lizzy says. "You know she doesn't understand you're joking."

"Careful, Lizzy, or I might take her side and you'll have to go with that Darcy of yours," he responds in a mock-threat.

Elizabeth rolls her eyes light-heartedly, "And have no one to discuss Brexit with?"

"Touche."

"Speaking of Darcy, I'm almost late to meet him. Goodbye, everyone," she pecks Mary's cheek and then kisses the top of her dad's head.

"Have a good day, sweetheart," father responds.

Mrs Bennet intercepts her just before she makes it out of the house.

"Don't you dare walk out of that door, miss, we haven't finished this conversation!" she orders, pointing a finger at her in accusation.

Lizzy sighs. "I know, mother, and I promise I will be back tonight to discuss this. Have a good day!"

She quickly walks out and shuts the door, hearing her mother's final, "Miss!" behind her back.

* * *

She enters his flat using her own key and finds Darcy at the kitchen counter, reading a newspaper and drinking a cup of coffee. He doesn't look up when he hears her come in, merely presents his cheek for her to kiss, all warm familiarity. She smiles when she does so.

"You are such an old man," Lizzy says, pouring a cup of coffee for herself. "You know there's an app for _The Times_? You don't have to get a physical copy every morning."

"Maybe I like it better this way," he responds, not offended by her teasing for a second.

"Is there no chocolate in this place?" she asks, disgruntled as she goes through all the top cupboards, unsuccessfully trying to find something to go with her coffee.

"You ate it all, and I haven't had the chance to buy more. It's still odd to me that you can't drink coffee without chocolate on the side."

"I guess we all have our quirks, _old man_," Lizzy responds, putting a spoonful of sugar into her cup.

Darcy snorts and folds his newspaper. He notices the tension in her — something that he can only spot because her knows her so well. He comes up to hug her from behind and places a kiss on that spot where her neck and shoulder meet. He hopes it will relax her a little, and it works. Lizzy closes her eyes and smiles.

"How did it go?" he asks, planting more soft kisses down her shoulder. He's happy it's summer and Lizzy wears a lot of strapless tops because it gives him a room for manoeuvre.

She lets out a delighted sigh. "I'll tell you once you stop distracting me."

"Sorry," he says and, kissing her shoulder one more time, steps away.

"Hey, I didn't say it had to be now," she giggles, but then the sparks in her eyes dull out as her thoughts return to what happened with her mother. "I think it's safe to say she didn't take it well."

"Of course. But are you alright?"

"What do you mean of course?" she furrows her brows.

"She had high hopes for you, with you just having finished a law degree and all."

"And what, not wanting to qualify as a lawyer and doing something else is beneath me?"

"No, of course not."

"Then what?"

Darcy is tense, knowing he has to tread carefully. One wrong word, and Lizzy will be offended. She takes things such as these very personally. In a panic, he tries to think of something to say to rectify the situation, but Lizzy interprets his silence in her own way.

"Great," she says, disappointment obvious in her voice. "And here I was hoping that at least you would understand."

"Lizzy—" Darcy sighs and reaches out to take her hand, but she doesn't let him.

"No, leave me alone, please."

He doesn't stop her from walking out of the door, knowing that she needs some time to cool down. He hates arguing with her, but this is Lizzy. He knows she needs to process things in her own way.

* * *

Elizabeth sighs and turns another page of her beaten up copy of _Middlemarch_, taking a sip on her iced vanilla latte. The Costa she always goes to is relatively empty because at the moment, so it's not helping the complete disarray of emotions she has to deal with.

When her phone buzzes from the fifteenth text from Darcy, she growls and turns it face down.

"Lizzy?" she hears someone say above her and lifts her head to see Charlotte's beaming face.

"Charlotte!" she hugs her friend, doing her best to put on a cheerful smile.

"When did you return from university?" Charlotte asks, taking a seat across from Lizzy.

"Two days ago. Sorry I didn't reach out, it's been a crazy time."

"I bet. With you finishing your final year and all. Did exams go well? Hopefully you aren't stressed anymore."

"No, not stressed about exams anymore, although I don't think they went perfectly."

"What's the problem, then?" Charlotte asks, perceptive as always.

"I got a job at our Waterstones," Lizzy says, an exasperated eye roll conveying the rest of the story without words.

"Ah. Mrs Bennet is not happy, I would presume."

"That's a huge understatement," she sighs. "I went to talk to Will, and he—"

"Didn't support you," Charlotte finishes for her, taking a sip of her own iced latte.

"No, though he didn't openly object to my decision either. I just— It's hell at home. Mother's angry, my sisters are trying their best to help, but still. I was just hoping that with him I would have a safe place where I would always be accepted, you know?"

Charlotte smiles at her. "He _does_ always accept you. It's just that he's prone to putting his foot in his mouth, pardon my French. Just think about the way he confessed his feelings for you," she reminds Lizzy, not unreasonably. "He sometimes expresses things in a way contrary to what he means."

"I know. You're right. I might have reacted a little... unreasonably."

"He loves you, Lizzy. You should answer his texts," she nods at her phone.

"I know he loves me. But so does my mother, in her own way. That doesn't stop her from doing her best to emotionally abuse me. And you know I can't be with someone, potentially forever, who won't let me be _me_."

"But he does let you be yourself. He fell in love with you exactly for who you are, don't you remember?"

"I do," she lets out an exasperated sigh. "You're right. I hate it when other people are right, and I'm wrong."

Charlotte laughs softly. "I know. But you weren't going to let this argument continue for a long time anyway, right?"

"Of course not," Lizzy wouldn't even think about breaking up with Darcy. He's her everything, the mere thought of being apart from him fills her with dread. "I love him. I'm just going to go back and talk to him," she looks down at her coffee. "Once I finish my latte."

They both giggle.

"So tell me about the whole thing with working at Waterstones."

"I just feel like I've been running a race for the last… probably five years of my life, you know? First it was GCSEs and sixth form applications, then there were A Levels and university applications, and then constant lectures, tutorials, seminars, exams… I'd like to stop for a minute, take a breath and rest. I want to understand what I want to do with my life."

Charlotte smiles. "I think that's a great plan. We all need to take a break from time to time."

Lizzy can't help but beam at her friend.

"Just don't forget to keep me updated on what you decide to do next."

"Cheers to that," Lizzy says.

* * *

When she gets to Will's place, she finds him pacing the living room with a piece of paper in his hand. This happens quite often because he is one of those people who need to write down their thoughts to make sure they say exactly what they want to say. He looks very anxious, and Lizzy's heart aches for him.

"Elizabeth," he says when he sees her, "you're back. I want to explain to you that I didn't mean that I'm on your mother's side. When I said 'Of course' I meant that I wasn't surprised by her reaction because she places a lot of burden on you, to meet her unreasonable expectations. Please, forgive me, I would never try to change you or judge you for your choices—"

He loves her so much, Lizzy realises. It's something she knows already, but she forgets from time to time how just much he does love her. He would do anything for her. He doesn't care what she does with her life, as long as she's happy.

He is so _good_. She is so lucky to have him.

The thought brings tears of joy to her eyes, and she steps towards him, holding his face in her hands and placing a soft kiss onto his lips, making him pause in the middle of a sentence.

"I know," she says, quiet. "I love you."

"You're not angry?"

"No, I love you," she repeats in a whisper, as a tear rolls down her cheek.

He furrows his brows like he does when he doesn't quite know how to handle the feelings he has for her, like he's feeling so much that it pains him (she knows him so well by now, it is crazy to her sometimes. But then she thinks that's how it should be, anyway), and leans in to kiss her, hard and passionate. The feeling grabs her by the soul. She can't imagine her life without him.

"I'm sorry," she says after they part, looking him in the eyes and hoping he understands how much he means it. "I didn't want you to be this stressed."

He shrugs and traces his thumb over the scar on her cheek that she has since getting into a car accident two years ago. She remembers how much it terrified him — the possibility of losing her. He often said it was almost like dying himself.

"I love you, I'm scared of losing you. I'm always going to worry when we argue. But that's okay."

"It is?" she furrows her brows, anxious.

"Yes," he kisses her forehead, as if trying to calm her. "You're very much worth it, I promise."

* * *

**Thank you for reading, and please, review?**


End file.
